Unable to connect to Server2003 from Internet

Hi all :-)I'm trying to set up a server for friend of mine to use as a media server for his group to share files over the Internet (so his group can connect to it from wherever they are, on their own PCs, through Internet). I guess, FTP kind of access would be plenty for them... But...At this point I've got IIS setup, and I think configured. Also, set up NAT on his router, connected to cable modem through CAT5 cable (he's using a wireless router for his 2 laptops at home).But whenever I try connecting to a server through Internet using his IP address, it looks like router does routs to the server, but does not let to go any further, showing an error, that "... you do not have a permission to browse this directory..." kinda error message (I'm not at the server at the moment and do not remember exactly).I've followed couple of instructions found on MS site and somewhere else in Internet on how to set up this kinda access and followed it completely (at least I think I did...), but at this point to no avail...Is there an easy way of setting this kind of thing up? There is no public domain name, IP address access is gonna be sufficient for them. Can anyone point me towards right direction, please?

Ijack, yes, did the forwarding, but do not remember if I've done anything with firewall though... I don't even remember seeing firewall.... Is it installed by default?

Wonderer, I found out the IP address through ipconfig and it looks like it was his Comcast modem's address. As far as connecting to the site locally: do you mean from one of his laptops through the router and connecting to the server? No. I have not even configured it to be accessed from local PCs.

Ipconfig will not give you the wan ip. You have to go to somewhere like ipchicken.com to get the wan ip.You can't port forward with a modem, it doesn't have that feature set. Only routers can port forward.

Might want to spend some time on portforward.com so you understand how all this works.

Thank you for those links! I definitely am gonna use those two! :-)And as for how I did the forwarding - :-) I, actually, did setup port forwarding on his router (see my first post ;-) )And also, what I did not mention, I did experiment (just to see what address would work) taking some addresses from router connection screen(don't remember whats the name of that option in there though. It is in the admin panel on the router).Looks like I do have a few things I can go back and try :-) Thank you, guys :-)

I think I just chose a random (out of the list of open and not used ports, and exactly I do not remember which one, at this point).From the router's NAT - it is static. For his cable modem - I think it refreshes every few weeks...

You have to forward the appropriate port for the service that you are trying to access. So if you are trying to access via a web browser you need to forward port 80 (HTTP), etc. Just forwarding to a random port isn't going to work.

It's so secure that you won't be able to reach the server (as you have discovered). You can certainly change it if you change the port that the server is listening on (and you have to specify that port when you connect if you are not using 80). I can't see that it's any more secure; you build security into the server, not by by trying to hide the port number being used (which a simple port scan will reveal).

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